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the product
Spray rigs and equipment for lawn care companies and landscapers.
the challenge
In business for 30 years, Graham had already cemented its reputation as a trustworthy company that offered quality products. It was known for doing business in an “old school” manner—handshakes, verbal agreements, and the sense that they existed to help their customers. This sustained them for years as their customers remained loyal. But while customers continued to return, the lack of a true identity for Graham prevented much growth.
the process
We contacted many of Graham’s customers in order to gather insight. From those interviews, we found that Graham’s company culture felt like one from the past—one where people are out to help each other and not to simply make a buck. An example of this came from a customer out of New Orleans: he lost his rig in Hurricane Katrina and had limited funding to pay for a new one right away. Graham’s answer? They built a new rig and had him worry about payment when he got back on his feet. There were a number of stories like this one from their customers who keep coming back to Graham to make repeat purchases.
But we needed to fill the pipeline with new customers.
After gathering this feedback, we had a solid idea of what set Graham apart and how to position them next to other spray rig companies. They genuinely cared for their customers and wanted their rigs to help them grow their lawn care businesses. They consistently offered mentoring, advice, and helped customers choose the right equipment. And they had the unique ability to customize rigs for the customers’ exact needs, so customers could basically tell the Graham team how they wanted their rig set up and Graham could build it.
We used these components as the basis for creating the new marketing strategy and assets.
the solution
Since Graham had done very little marketing over their thirty-year history, we built a strategy from scratch. With Graham’s strengths in mind, we came up with their original tagline: “If you can dream it, we can build it.”
We updated the old website, created one-sheets, developed a newsletter and started communicating with the customer base with monthly email blasts. We also brought Graham into the 21st century by adding YouTube videos and social media to their marketing mix.
In the past year, we went further to create a new tagline that focuses even more on Graham’s customer-centric approach: “Putting you first is why we’re second to none.” In current years, we’ve focused more on visuals. Since many of Graham’s customers want to be able to see the products, we’ve created even more videos and added extensively to the online photo album that showcases customized units.
the result
Our work for Graham brought this thirty-year-old company with great history into the present. We worked to maintain the strength of their personal, “old school” approach and used this to create a brand that was true to their identity.
Graham began their new marketing strategy, purchased new equipment, and modernized the company in 2013. That year, sales increased by 25.3%. Since then, Graham has experienced consistent growth at an average of 10% per year.
ongoing
Our work with Graham continues. We work each year to ensure that the company continues to grow and cement itself as a major part of the lawn spray rig market. We create an updated marketing plan each year and constantly evaluate and seek out new opportunities that are of the moment such as influencer marketing and a high quality rig brochure to give justice to their 100% USA man-made equipment.
